Out of the Blue

A striking re-enactment of New Zealand's worst mass killing, when a member of a remote community blasted away at as many of his neighbours as he could find.

The setting, and director Robert Sarkies' determination to avoid anything resembling histrionics, set this apart from genre history. It makes it scarier, too - this is very much a routine day in a humdrum community. We see the killer-to-be poring over New Zealand Guns magazine, but his potential victims have no warning whatsoever of what they are about to face.

Non-actors were cast and the avoidance of any familiar faces adds to the film's believability along with a refusal to over-dramatise. In its own small way, the film performs a similar feat to United 93 in making you feel that this is what it would have been like to be there, and making you very glad you weren't.